September 06, 2006
My Washington, D.C.
This post is part of our series, "My Hometown" These posts will feature the hometowns and local connections that our employees have with the ports that our small-ships visit. This week's post is submitted by Jeff Krida, President & CEO of Cruise West.
Q: What is your connection to Washington, D.C?
A: Alexandria, VA/Washington, DC - finished High School; met my wife, Rebecca, of 38 years; went to college, and got my first job there with American Airlines.
Q: Do you have a funny story or little known fact about Washington, D.C. you’d like to share?
A: Many. A place I enjoy is the Torpedo Factory on the Potomac River at the foot of King Street in Old Town Alexandria. That's what it was and what it made in the 1940's. In the 1970's it was converted to artist's work/studio lofts where the public can meet the artists and buy their art. It's a great old building in a beautiful spot, but it is a turnaround in use and purpose that provokes thinking about "turning guns to plowshares" when and where we can.
Q: What is your favorite time of year in Washington, D.C. and why?
A: Springtime in Washington, DC is a sea of flowers. It is also the best time to be comfortable with the weather. Nearly everywhere in D.C. in the spring is bright with flowering beauty and the reassurance of re-birth and freshness. I have had many "What a Day for a Daydream" moments in D.C in the springtime, literally tiptoeing through the tulips.
Q: Is there a particular food or song that reminds you of Washington, D.C.?
A: Chesapeake Bay Bluefin crabs steamed in Old Bay seasoning, Maryland Silver Queen white sweet corn on the cob and ice-cold beer, all spread out on newspapers, enjoyed with family and friends. I am tasting it while I am writing this!
Q: What is on your “must see” list for visitors to Washington, D.C.?
A: There's sooooo much! There are three places I like to go when I am back "home". Two you know about and the third you should seek out and find. Spending a few quiet moments with Honest Abe looking down the Reflecting Pool toward the Washington Monument and toward the Capitol on up The Mall from his chair is overwhelmingly humbling while you ponder the depth of his selfless greatness compared to our own personal drives and ambitions. Walking around the Tidal Basin through the Japanese Cherry trees approaching "the wise one" standing at the center of the rotunda in the Jefferson Memorial is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. My personal favorite, however, is a very small park right on the south bank of the Potomac, just north of the 14th Street Bridge on the George Washington Parkway where a sculpted monument to soldiers and sailors lost at sea suspends cruising gulls by the tips of their wings lightly touching a breaking wave.
Q: Do you have a favorite area of the city?
A: I still love Georgetown and spent lots of time there as a college student. It is a neighborhood within a city and its scale is comfortable. But I also enjoy the Adams Morgan neighborhood just off Connecticut 
Avenue behind the Washington Hilton. It is eclectic and international with restaurants and residents of every ethnicity spewed between residential row houses, florists, bookstores and markets. It is a colorful, tasty and alive place.
Q: Is there a favorite activity that you enjoy in Washington, D.C.?
A: I can't stay away from the art museums: the National Gallery, the Renwick, the Corcoran, the Phillips Collection where you can have the whole room to yourself with Renoir's "The Boating Party" that is bigger than life. I still like an hour or so in the main reading room under the Rotunda in the Library of Congress. The sweet pleasure of a quiet hour in that place is to long for in our busy lives, and after all, we all own it so why not enjoy it!
Q: Is there a particular restaurant that you’d recommend for visitors?
A: Maybe not for the exquisiteness of the cuisine, but I really enjoy The Dubliner at The Hotel Phoenix near Union Station. It is a genuine Irish Bar where you can sing a few choruses of "The Wild Rover" over a great dish of shepherds pie and tip a pint of Guinness, and everyone there is your friend.
Q: Anything else you'd like to add?
A: There is never enough time to enjoy all the great things of Washington, D.C. and most of them are as enjoyable time after time as they were the first time you did them. Go there, often - and remember, most of it's yours!
Our ship, the Spirit of Nantucket, visits Washington, D.C. on several itineraries. This fall, we'll visit as part of our Chesapeake Bay & Hudson River cruise and our Colonial America & Battlefields of the Civil War cruise. In 2007, we'll call on Washington, D.C on our Cradle of Colonial America and Historic Chesapeake Bay cruises. If you'd like to learn more about Washington, D.C., consider visiting the Washington, D.C. Convention and Tourism Corporation.
Posted by Jeff on September 6, 2006 3:27 PM
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